MAPLEWOOD, Mo. — After three years in a Maplewood church to avoid immediate deportation, Alex Garcia returned home to his wife and children Wednesday without fear of imminent separation while he petitions for permanent legal status.
Garcia, a Honduran immigrant and father of five who has lived in the U.S. for 17 years, left Christ Church United Church of Christ where he has sought refuge from federal officials looking to enforce a deportation order stemming from his first entry into the U.S. in 2000.
His departure, Garcia and his advocates said, follows orders from President Joe Biden to Immigration and Customs Enforcement that deprioritized deportation for undocumented migrants without violent criminal records. That reversed federal policy under President Donald Trump, who sought to deport anyone in the country illegally, including migrants like Garcia who had been granted temporary stays in the U.S. because they were working people with no criminal records married to U.S. citizens.
Garcia, who entered the U.S. in 2004 fleeing violence and extreme poverty in Honduras, on Wednesday thanked activists, clergy and public officials who have fought on his behalf to resume life with his family while he petitions for legal status.
“Today, we celebrate as I leave sanctuary and reunite with my family after being separated for 1,252 days,” Garcia, 38, said in a statement marking his departure from Christ Church United Church of Christ. “Because of all of your support and the new administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement made a promise that I am no longer a priority for deportation.”
A spokesman for ICE declined comment. While Biden has signed several executive orders on immigration issues that undo his predecessor’s policies, several Republican members of Congress are pushing legal challenges to block those orders.
Garcia said he and other undocumented migrants won’t consider their fight over until they are granted permanent protections.
“We are not done yet,” Garcia said in his statement. “There is still so much work that has to be done and I look forward to being able to join you all out there in the community and continue to fight for my permanent protection.”
After fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras in 2004, Garcia found employment as a construction worker in Poplar Bluff and married a U.S. citizen and had children, living quietly in the small Missouri town.
But in 2015, he caught the attention of immigration officials when he accompanied his sister to an immigration check-in appointment at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Kansas City. There, he was linked to a deportation order from 2000, when he had first tried to cross into the U.S. at age 19 and was immediately deported.
With the help of immigration attorneys, Garcia was twice granted a one-year reprieve to stay in the country. But in 2017, Garcia’s third request for a reprieve was denied.
Rather than turn himself in, Garcia sought refuge in Maplewood under federal guidance that classified churches, hospitals and schools as “sensitive locations” where federal immigration officials should not carry out enforcement actions.
The deportation order would have required Garcia leave the country for 10 years before being allowed to apply for citizenship, his attorney Nicole Cortes has said.
Garcia’s wife, Carly, and their children regularly drove 150 miles from Poplar Bluff to visit Garcia in his small apartment at the church, and eventually moved to Maplewood to be closer to him. Meanwhile, local officials and even Poplar Bluff neighbors who had considered themselves supporters of Trump’s strict immigration policies fought to keep Garcia in the U.S.
Former U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, filed a private bill in 2019 that would have granted Garcia permanent protection while he pursues legal status, but the legislation failed. On Monday, Clay’s successor, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, filed a similar bill.
Carly Garcia, also in a statement, thanked supporters for their efforts, and described Bush’s bill as a “desperate need” in their fight for immigration reform.
“These last 3½ years have been very difficult and traumatizing for us,” Garcia said. “We celebrate this win today but it’s not over; Alex still needs permanent protection.”
“The private bill ... that Congresswoman Cori Bush introduced on Monday will grant Alex the protection he desperately needs — that we as a family desperately need. Thank you all so much for your continued support and we look forward to continuing to push for more just immigration laws so that all of the families in sanctuary are free.”
Bush credited Garcia’s release to activism on behalf of his supporters, but said she was committed to passing her legislation.
“This is the power of organizing,” Bush said. “ICE has promised not to deport Alex, and we will stop at nothing to ensure that they keep their promise. In Congress, I will continue championing the private bill to grant Alex permanent residency, which is the surest way to guarantee permanent unity for his family.”
Though Garcia was leaving the church, the church was not leaving his fight to stay in the U.S., the Rev. Rebecca Turner said.
“The hearts of all of us at Christ Church are overflowing today,” Turner said. “God has answered our prayers for Alex Garcia to live freely, without the threat of being separated from his family. Alex is a part of our church family and we will continue to advocate for him until he has a pathway to full citizenship.”
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